These stamps paint a thousand words

Gurvinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 19

Postage stamps exhibited at Lupex-2014, the philately exhibition at the Head Post Office, may forever change your perception of stamps. Round coin-like postage stamps, stamps made from 24-carat gold, in the shape of a cut-out and 3-D stamps are sure to surprise and pique your interest.

Harinder Pal, one of the 29 exhibitors, is proud of his collection. Pointing to CD-records displayed in the frame, he said the records were also postage stamps and could actually be played. This was the collection on the theme of postage stamps on different materials from different parts of the world. He showed another postage stamp made on tin, yet another made from plyboard. One of the postage stamps was made from tin oil. Some stamps were made of the material used for making football. The stamp from Hong Kong had crystals on it while the postage stamp about Mahatma Gandhi had been made from khadi. The postage stamps made from Bhutan were made of silk.

Another collection by philatelist Subhash Sondhi comprised postage stamps about chocolates. But a closer look revealed that these were actually made of chocolates! Sondhi smiled and said: “These have to be kept in a freezer during summer. I got these from different countries.”

Mukesh Malhotra, another philatelist, said collecting postage stamps on a theme was nothing less than writing a thesis. “I have collected postage stamps on the theme of elephants. And, for that I had to really work hard to research about the postage stamps, but these reveal everything from how the elephants differ in different parts of the world, about their eating habits, the facts about their tusks,” he said.

Showing another collection by Sondhi, he said the theme of Red Cross charted its history, starting from the first postage stamp about Red Cross released. “It contains all the details through the postage stamps released by different countries,” he said.

Harinder Pal showed another collection with the theme of Sikhism. “This is the first postage stamp about Sikhism released in 1935 during the time of George V,” he said. He showed postage stamps brought out by different countries. Showing a post card released by the UN, he said: “The stamp is about India. It has a picture of Taj Mahal and of a Sikh.”

Senior Superintendent of Post Offices (City Division) Suresh Kumar Sharma said collecting postage stamps was a rewarding hobby. “Every postage stamp has a history. So while collecting these, one gets to know about their significance. So, a philatelist not only collects stamps, but also gains knowledge of history, significant facts, events and personalities. It enriches one’s knowledge,” he said.